New lists with low, higher risk Covid-19 countries

 

A day after Cyprus opened its airports, the Health Ministry has updated its lists and is now, categorising countries in three groups depending on their epidemiological risk as regards coronavirus.

“Based on the positive epidemiological situation of Cyprus and in an effort to once again open the country’s borders, the unit for epidemiological monitoring and control of infectious diseases of the Health Ministry, has evaluated the epidemiological risk for various countries as regards COVID-19,”  the Health Ministry said in a written announcement.

Classifications are based on the reproduction rate R (t)  for Covid-19, the number of new cases, the number of tests, the mortality rate per 100,000 people, the estimated prevalence and WHO indicators, it added.

And it noted that the classification of countries based on epidemiological risk is exceptionally dynamic and can change at any given moment as the pandemic develops.

For this reason, new figures will be announced and the list will be regularly updated, it said.

The countries have been classified as follows:

Group A – Low risk countries

These are countries with R (t) of below 1 and/or small number of new cases (<1/100,000 inhabitants a day)  and/or very low COVID19 mortality  (<5-10/100,000 inhabitants) and/or sporadic cases or cluster of cases according to WHO and /or at least satisfactory tests (>3000 tests/100,000 residents):

The countries are: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

Group B – Countries with higher risk compared to Group A 

These are countries with R (t) above 1 and/or new cases of  >1/100,000 people a day and/or increased COVID-19 mortality (>10/100,000 people)  and/or limited lab tests  (<2000 tests/100,000 people) or lack of classification by WHO.

They are:  Israel, Poland and Romania

Group C – Countries with higher risk compared to groups A and B 

These are countries with R (t) above 1 and/or number of new cases of >1/100,000 people a day and/or increased COVID-19 mortality (>10/100,000 people) and/or limited  lab tests (<2000 tests/100,000 people) or lack of classification by WHO

They are: Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands and UK